CATS

The World's Best-Loved Musical!

On January 25, 2003, the Marriott Theatre presented a new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS directed and choreographed by Marc Robin. It quickly became the best-selling show in our long history. CATS, based on the poems of T.S. Eliot, with its legendary score, provides the setting for spectacular and breathtaking dance. Our intimate surroundings bring you closer than ever to “The Jellicle Ball” with trouble-makers Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, the magical Mr. Mistoffelees and the suave Rum Tum Tugger. Let the “Memory” live again!

MARC ROBIN (Director and Choreographer) Marriott Theatre directing credits include Dreamgirls, Legally Blonde, White Christmas, For the Boys, Drowsy Chaperone, Hairspray, Joseph, All Shook Up, The Full Monty, The Producers, Big River, Pirates of Penzance, West Side Story, Cats, Beauty and The Beast, Annie Get Your Gun, Swing!, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Once Upon a Time in New Jersey, The All Night Strut, and Grease. His Marriott Choreography credits include all of the above as well as State Fair, Singin’ in the Rain, Mame, Funny Girl, Honk, Will Rogers Follies and How to Succeed. His freelance career has allowed him to stage more than 300 productions across the country including theatres such as Phoenix Theatre (Arizona), Walnut Street (Pa), TUTS (Texas), Utah Shakespeare, Carousel Theatre (Ohio), Maine State Music Theatre, and many Chicago venues including Chicago Shakespeare, Drury Lane Oakbrook and Evergreen Park, Northlight and Steppenwolf. He has received 16 Jeff Awards (55 nominations), 13 After Dark Awards, three Ari’Zoni awards, a Light Opera Works Lifetime Achievement Award and 3 Barrymore nominations. He is proud to serve as the Artistic Director at the Fulton Theatre in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

RYAN T. NELSON (Music Director) is the Music Director in Residence for the School of Communication at Northwestern University where he coordinates all musical activities for the Theatre and Interpretation Center, teaches in the Music Theatre Certificate Program, and music directs and supervises several productions each year, including AMTP productions and the famed WAA-MU show. He is the Resident Music Director at Chicago’s Marriott Theatre, where he has music directed dozens of productions, including the world premieres of Hero, Now & Forever: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber and For the Boys. His work on A Chorus Line and The Light in the Piazza at the Marriott has been recognized with Jeff Award nominations for excellence in Chicago theatre. Most recently, Ryan conducted Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, which won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Musical (2013). He has conducted and recorded with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), the Rembrandt Chamber Players, and Ensemble Dal Niente. Nelson was formerly an Assistant Professor of Music in Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. His Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in conducting are from the University of North Texas, where he was a student of Eugene Migliaro Corporon.

NANCY MISSIMI (Costume Designer) has been designing costumes in Chicago for 27 years. She has taught at the University of Detroit and C.W. Post College, and managed the costume collection for Theatre Development Fund in New York. Credits include designs for Court, Royal George, Chicago Opera Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook and Martinique and Northwestern University’s Waa-Mu Show. She is the recipient of numerous Joseph Jefferson nominations and awards, most recently for the Marriott Theatre’s Beauty and the Beast, Cats and Show Boat. Her designs for Joseph… and The Wizard of Oz have been seen at Chicago Shakespeare Theater; and she has recently designed a national tour of Phantom. Among her favorite Marriott Theatre shows are The King and I, 1776, and Hot Mikado. She and director-husband, Dominic, are pleased to share billing with daughters Emmy and Angela.

ROBERT E. GILMARTIN (Sound Designer) has been engineering and designing theater around Chicago since 2002. His engineering experience includes work with Lookingglass Theater, Marriott Theatre, Steppenwolf, and The Goodman. Design credits include Marriott Theatre's productions of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Light in the Piazza, Hairspray, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, The Drowsy Chaperone, Once on this Island, A Chorus Line, The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, 42nd Street, Shout!, For the Boys, White Christmas, Legally Blonde, The Pirates of Penzance, Hero, Dreamgirls, My One and Only, Now and Forever, South Pacific, I Love You You’re Perfect Now Change and many Marriott Theatre for Young Audiences productions. Robert graduated from Middle Tennessee State University's school of Recording Industry Management. Thanks to Buster and Family.

SALLY WEISS (Properties Designer) This is Sally’s eighteenth production with the Marriott Theatre having most recently designed the properties for Cabaret. In Chicago, Sally has worked as a scenic, lighting and props designer and is a proud company member of New Suit Theatre Company where she designed the scenery for their production of Emma. Previous designs include scenic design for Alice In Wonderland here at Marriott For Young Audiences, lighting design for Much Ado About Nothing and Gruesome Playground Injuries at Rasaka Theatre Company, The Gog/Magog Project with director Brant Russell, Icarus and Striking 12 at Bohemian Theatre Ensemble and props design at Notre Dame Shakespeare and Next Theatre. She has been the Props Manager at The Weston Playhouse in Weston, Vermont and The Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. and received her BA in Theatre from the University of Maryland at College Park. Currently Sally resides in Chicago and attended the MFA Stage Design Program at Northwestern University studying scenic and lighting design. To see examples of her work visit sallyweissdesign.com.

MICHAEL HENDRICKS (Production Stage Manager) stage manages all main stage productions. Early in his career he appeared at the Marriott Theatre in the play Finishing Touches starring Barbara Rush and directed by Dominic Missimi. He still occasionally appears onstage when necessary—most recently as the Admiral and Bank Chairman in Mary Poppins for three performances. Before that he did two performances as the Constable in Fiddler on the Roof. Other emergency roles: Mr. Keeney in Funny Girl, Arvide in Guys and Dolls, Night club customer in Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Andrew Carnes in Oklahoma! Upcoming role: Father of the bride in Greta and Scott Tie the Knot.

PATTI GARWOOD (Musical Supervisor/Conductor) has been with the Marriott Theatre since 1994. Other Chicago musical directing and conducting credits include the Grant Park Orchestra featuring Dennis De Young, Catskills On Broadway at the Shubert Theatre and Oliver!, Song and Dance and Kopit and Yeston’s Phantom at the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse. Prior to making the Chicago area her home, Patti served as Resident Musical Director at the Fireside Dinner Playhouse in Fort Atkinson, WI and at the Musicana Dinner Playhouse in West Palm Beach, FL. Other regional theatre work includes La Comedia Dinner Theatre in Springboro, OH; the Capitol Theatre in Rome, NY and the Harbor House on Nantucket Island, MA.